Will Brooks’ 50 Year Diary - watching Doctor Who one episode a day from the very start...
Day 486: Image of the Fendahl, Episode Four
Dear diary,
Nope, I’m sorry to say that I still just don’t get it. I’m simply stumped by the entire concept of the Fendahl. I get that the Doctor says there needs to be a certain number of creatures plus the ‘core’ in order to form this mythical being (is Golden Thea the core?), but then if they’ve killed one, and another has killed itself… how is the creature going to form the full being? Take over the Doctor or a companion, I guess… but then didn’t Golden Thea turn into one of these Fendahleen at one point? And why are some tiny and some huge? Do they grow quickly? Or is it absorbing energy? And how come some are created by people turning into them, while the first one we saw was apparently formed from simply absorbing energy?
Oh, I’m sorry. I’m trying very hard to like this one, and there’s a lot in here that I do like, but it just… it’s lost me somewhere along the way, and didn’t manage to grab me back into it I’m afraid.
Still - let’s focus on the positives in this episode, and the story as a whole, yeah? For a start, I really love the design of the Fendahleen. Although you never lose sight of the fact that it’s a person in a monster costume (it’s that problem I’ve complained about a few times since the Giant Maggots saga - it needs to look slimier…), it’s far more effective than your average shuffling alien costume. It has a presence that really impacts on screen - and it helps that you rarely see the full creature in shot. You almost get the idea that it’s too large to fit entirely in the frame.
Again this is an example of where George Spenton-Foster’s direction far outstrips what I’m accustomed to in Doctor Who. There’s lots of very competent directors working on the programme at this point (more, I’d argue, than at any time before in the series’ history), but these four episodes have really stood out as something special. I’ve complained once or twice that his unique style has made it harder for me to ‘read’ what’s happening in the narrative… but maybe that’s more to do with the story itself, and the fact that it’s coincided with this suddenly very different style is purely chance.
Then you have that final scene in the TARDIS. It’s a bit of an odd one (and everyone back at the cottage must assume that the Doctor and Leela have perished in the fire at the house, since they don’t appear to drop in and say their goodbyes! Somewhere in the back of my mind, UNIT will arrive before long and will take down the Tyler’s report that ‘the Doctor’ and his assistant vanished when the house went up. That’ll keep the paperwork going for a while!), but it shows just how comfortable Tom and Louise are in the show at this point. I’ve heard it said several times over the years that Louise never really felt welcomed by Tom during her time on the show, and that they only really became friends in later years. If that’s the case, then they hide it incredibly well, because this relationship is at least as fond as the one he shared with Lis Sladen and Sarah Jane.
On the whole? An oddity. Something of a half-way house between the old style of the programme and the new style, and it just hasn’t worked for me. Certainly another one for me to add to the ‘must rematch’ list for when this marathon is over…
